Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Still in use and recently renovated, the Olympic Stadium is a famous Helsinki landmark and home to the Sports Museum of Finland.
A shining example of modern Finnish architecture and an abiding symbol of Helsinki 1952, the Olympic Stadium remains one of Finland’s premier sports venues and the country’s largest outdoor arena. It staged the IAAF World Athletics Championships in 1983 and 2005, and the European Athletics Championships in 1971, 1994 and 2012, as well as matches at UEFA Women’s Euro 2009, including the final. The stadium is also the home ground of the Finnish men’s and women’s national football teams. The stadium also played host to the 2022 UEFA Super Cup.
As a multi-purpose venue, it has hosted more than 20 sports over the years. During winter months, the pitch has been converted into an ice rink for community use, with various winter sports taking place there. Throughout the year, the stadium is used extensively for community and school events such as carnivals, youth fun runs and snow festivals, attracting around 600,000 visitors a year. Numerous major international pop and rock groups and performers, including the Rolling Stones, U2, Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi, have performed there.
In 2019, the stadium underwent extensive renovation work aimed at making it the country’s foremost sporting, cultural, entertainment and tourism hub, and ensuring that it could be used by local residents and athletes of all abilities for the next 75 years. The comprehensive renovations, which wrapped up in August 2020, included improvements to crowd safety and access for major events, with the installation of electronic ticketing machines, upgrades to stadium access with new bike paths, and updated warm-up and indoor training facilities. The goal is to attract more than a million visitors each year.
As well as the safety improvements made, the stadium was fitted out with artist and athlete lounges, stakeholder and media spaces, a new visitor centre, a restaurant, multi-functional conference rooms, and new VIP and corporate boxes.
The refurbishment works carefully preserved the stadium’s distinctive functionalist architectural features, including the iconic Marathon Tower, one of Finland’s most famous landmarks and a popular vantage point offering stunning views of the city. Located in the heart of Helsinki, the stadium was granted protected status by the Finnish government in 2006.
The Olympic Stadium hosted athletics, equestrian (show jumping), football and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at Helsinki 1952. It opened in June 1938, having originally been built for the 1940 Olympic Games, which were cancelled due to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. After the war, the stadium was refurbished. It hosted 70,435 spectators at the Helsinki 1952 Opening Ceremony, which remains its attendance record.